Restoring the old Nueces County Courthouse and giving it a useful purpose is a dream that has had 43 years to come true. It hasn't.

The Ed Rachal Foundation made a real offer to pay actual money for the old building and knock it down at the foundation's expense. The Nueces County Commissioners Court should have accepted that offer. Like the foundation's offer, the county's obligation to taxpayers also is real.

The former Nueces County Courthouse was constructed in 1914 at 1100 N. Mesquite St.(Photo: Jennifer Killin-Guadarrama)

We recognize that the foundation had one stipulation that may border on fantasy — that the county find a way to lift the deed restriction preventing demolition before 2027, so the work can get started. The Texas Historical Commission has never allowed such a thing before.

County Judge Barbara Canales wants to save the building. We sympathize. Saying goodbye to a legacy that has been a part of Corpus Christi since 1914 is difficult and feels like a surrender.

A legacy of neglect

But this community also has been surrendering the old courthouse to a slow demise since 1976, when the county moved out. In the early years, developers collected grant money, made promises, never delivered and never were held accountable. Later, the Durrill Foundation, giver of countless prominent gifts to this community, tried to be a savior and failed.

Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales listens to speakers as they address the commissioners court during a Feb. 25, 2019 meeting on an item related to the proposed demolition of the 1914 county courthouse.(Photo: Tim Acosta/Caller-Times)

Meanwhile, the building deteriorated at a pace to be expected of a building with concrete, rebar and brick veneer that has withstood hurricanes but also has been neglected. Like the song by Roseann Cash and friends says: "You can learn to live with anything when it happens by degrees." This community did that.

Barbara Canales owns this

We recognize that Canales is early into the first year of her first elected office. But she is a lifelong resident who has had ample time to take on the old courthouse as a cause. Being county judge is new; her connection to this community and its history is not. Her well-known late grandmother Dr. Clotilde Garcia was a historian.

Until Canales' campaign for office last year when she took the position that the courthouse could be saved, she was on the sidelines with the rest of the community, letting the deterioration happen by degrees.

But, to her credit, she declared that she is taking the responsibility now. We applaud her exuberance and resolve. Both the state and federal governments like to pour money into restorations. Canales may be the first local official who could convert grants and loans into an actual restored courthouse. Previous government contributions were like a cheap parlor trick — difficult if not impossible for the eye to see.

The pressure to succeed is significant, considering that:

The county sent the Rachal Foundation packing after it offered to pay off more than $1.5 million in back taxes and pay for a demolition that could have fallen upon taxpayers.

Only eight years remain on the restriction against demolition anyway.

The removal of Harbor Bridge, once its replacement bridge is complete, is expected to unlock significant development potential for the courthouse property.

That potential could exist for a restored, repurposed courthouse building as well as for a cleared space. But which is more realistic?

Corpus Christi's downtown has been held back for decades by neglectful owners of deteriorating properties. The old courthouse is the biggest example. Canales' solution needs to be real and it needs to be soon.